With $15,322,000 in ticket sales, the latest installment of “The Mummy” franchise, “The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor”, ranked first in Friday box office.

Despite being heavily criticized by the movie critics, it seems like after all “The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor” is an attraction for moviegoers and it will have a decent weekend at box office. However, it is hard to believe that it will manage to dethrone “The Dark Knight”.

“The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor” has been described as “just another action movie”, but the chemistry between the characters is very much there. Brendan Fraser keeps it cool and funny, without losing his courage, Maria Bello is more active, fitting perfectly with the action.

This new Mummy movie finds Rick O’Connell, who last fought with the Scorpion King in Egypt, teaching and wife Evelyn, who is now played by Maria Bello, writing a “Mummy” novel. They are both in a slump: Rick looks like he needs some new adventure and Evelyn needs some inspiration for her book. So, when the opportunity comes, they both jump at the chance to experience a new adventure. They set off to Shanghai because they have to take there a precious artifact. Once they arrive there, they meet Evie’s brother Jonathan who runs a nightclub called Imhotep’s. The family also encounters their son Alex (Luke Ford), whose accent is more Australian than British. Just like his parents, Alex is very attracted by archeology and danger, being also very lucky. So lucky that he finds the tomb of the Dragon Emperor and the chambers housing his massive army, which are all under China’s desert.

Back in 50 B.C, the Emperor (Jet Li) betrayed a good witch Zi Yuan who made him immortal. The witch cast a curse upon the Emperor, sending him into a latent state, somewhere between life and death. Viewers can’t see much of Jet Li, even though he’s the Emperor, because, most of the time he’s acting through terracotta. But martial arts moves and special effects are still worth watching. So, as everyone suspected, Rick and his family, along with guardian Lin, try to stop the evil Emperor to rise from the dead and suppress freedom, by invading Tibet.

However, despite its financial results, “The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor” will probably conclude “The Mummy” franchise.

In Friday's box office, “The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor” was closely followed by another famous franchise, Batman. “The  Dark Knight”, which was number one for two weekend, earned on Friday $12,600,000, bringing the total gross of the movie to $363,687,000 in just 15 days after its release.

By far, “The Dark Knight” is the hottest movie of the summer. It is full of drama and adventures, a gripping thriller that will keep you still in your chair and will give you enough food for thought to find yourself eyes wide open at night, thinking. That doesn’t mean it is scary and it is definitely not a drawback, on the contrary, it is the movie’s great strength: it is so challenging and thought-provoking that it might make you go and see it again, even in its third weekend.

“Step Brothers”, a comedy with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, ranked third on Friday with $5,050,000, while Meryl Streep’s musical “Mamma Mia!” earned $3,858,000.

“Swing Vote”, the political comedy starring Kevin Costner and Madeline Carroll, had a modest debut on Friday, earning only $1,950,000 and the fifth place.

The entire movie revolves around Ernest 'Bud' Johnson, played by Kevin Costner, on whose vote the result of the entire election depends on. Bud is an egg inspector at a farm in a little New Mexico town who cares only about his girl Molly, portrayed by Madeline Carroll. Bud has a little bit of a drinking problem, but still Molly loves him a lot and takes really good care of him, making one wonder who the real parent in the family really is.

Molly convinces her father to go and vote the candidate that he wants to become president, and Bud decides to do so, even though he doesn't really care about any of these. As the day of the elections comes, he is fired from work because of his character and the fact that he is always late. Upset by the situation, Bud goes drinking and eventually forgets to do what he promised to his daughter.

However, because of a computer malfunction, it appears that he did vote, but his ballot was not taken into account. Since there is a perfect tie between the Republican and the Democratic candidates, it all comes down to Bud's vote, who suddenly enters the media spotlight.

“Swing Vote” was closely followed by “Journey To The Center Of The Earth”, which earned $1,880,000.

The other four movies that rounded the Top 10 on Friday were “Hancock”, “Wall-E”, “The X-Files: I Want To Believe” and “Space Chimps”.